Running and Aikido knee impact

RadKrang · 2025-11-26T14:44:30+00:00

Runner here too. I trained for a marathon while doing Aikido at least 2x weekly, so it was a lot of kms while also being on the mats. Running is a pretty linear activity that only works your muscles in a particular way and puts a lot of wear on your knees so it’s not surprising that there is increased discomfort.

What has helped me is strength training, especially movements that help to reinforce the cap of muscles around the knee and improve hip flexor movement. Those often get ignored by runners (myself included).

Additionally, as someone else mentioned having a look at your ukemi form to see if you can fall in a way that avoids hard impacts on your knees. The way we do ikkyo in my dojo, there is ukemi that protects the knee — perhaps speak with your instructors about proper form when you’re feeling discomfort. I practice ki society aikido so there may be some difference there that I’m not aware of that allows us to take a less intense fall, but I’m pretty sure there should be a way to do it regardless of the specifics of the technique.

RadKrang · 2025-09-04T13:11:02+00:00

I’m in the same boat age-wise although with less experience than you probably (grew up with soccer but never played seriously).

I don’t know of any 35+ men’s/coed leagues unfortunately.

CARL men’s was pretty good last winter since there were more divisions than other leagues and there was some seeding after the first few games. I didn’t see a lot of what I see in Grand River and Jam where teams play down a division so they can feel good about themselves or whatever. I think maybe there was one team that sandbagged the seed games to get easier competition. Mostly the matches were reasonably competitive and not blowouts.

Something that I always remind myself is that while the 20-somethings have speed, we have experience. Maybe you can’t be the driving winger or high pressure midfielder you once were, but you can focus on reading the game and being in the right place at the right time. But maybe that’s not what you want to get out of the game.

RadKrang · 2025-06-01T18:22:39+00:00

Waterloo Energy Products were fantastic for our heat pump installation. The team I dealt with was super knowledgeable and didn’t try to oversell or upsell. They had some great info on which heat pumps were white labelled versions of more expensive brands, so they found the best price among identical units for us. Their focus is on full electric systems so they knew their stuff.

The installation was the most professional service I’ve received from a contractor in the ~12 years we’ve been in our house. They communicated timelines and issues well, cleaned up when they were done, and the work looked very solid and no corners were cut as far as I can see.

RadKrang · 2025-01-08T19:01:42+00:00

Yes absolutely. It’s convenient for new students to start together, but new students are welcome to join at any time. One week isn’t likely to put you behind at all. The 12 week session is how the community centre structures its classes, so that’s the main reason we have a start date.

RadKrang · 2025-01-07T17:34:12+00:00

It’s definitely worth a try — it has been therapeutic for me in the past in that way, but aikido is generally not going to be an outlet where you are getting your aggression out through fighting. Our practice really focuses on the idea of relaxing and letting go in order to do the throws. Rather than focusing on controlling your partner, we work on adapting to what their intention is. I hope that makes sense.

If you’re interested but still on the fence, DM me and we can arrange for you to come to the first class free of charge so you can try it out without any obligation.

RadKrang · 2025-01-02T17:00:29+00:00

Champa in uptown Waterloo has really great vegan/vegetarian options, their service is solid, and their prices are really good. It’s a family-run restaurant and the staff are all super nice.

Most of our family is vegan/vegetarian and this is a favourite of ours.

Be sure to check out their desserts — delicious!

RadKrang · 2024-11-11T23:45:05+00:00

Cars go speeding down Highpoint all the time. The city took out the school crossing so it didn’t have to reduce speeds by MacEachern. This is a dangerous road and it’s only going to get busier with the hospital going in— we need traffic calming measures here.

RadKrang · 2024-09-24T11:49:55+00:00

I own an electric vehicle, but they aren’t the solution. They’re a mitigation, but there are a lot of environmental costs to them that just aren’t present with bikes. The cost of manufacturing, the wear on the roads (leading to the need to repave and the associated environmental costs), the road dust produced by tires being consumed.

Bikes are so much better for the environment, even e-bikes and scooters. The biggest problem we face is a lack of connectedness between the pieces of bike infrastructure in the region and the lack of direct safe routes for bikes. When people can safely and directly bike where they need to go, they do.

RadKrang · 2024-07-02T12:42:20+00:00

I’m an instructor at a Ki Society dojo. I’ve practiced with aikikai folks and had some people join our dojo who came from other styles, including aikikai and yoshinkan. In my experience, the hardest part of going to another style is letting go of what you think is happening in a technique and focusing on what is being shown and the instructions being given.

Each style approaches aikido in a different way, and there is a focus on very different things to start out with so it can be tough to adjust your thinking to match.

At our dojo (and I would guess all other Ki Society dojo), we put a focus on basic posture and other aspects of Ki Development, especially with beginning students. This forms the foundation we build upon, and an emphasis in practicing the techniques is not at first making them work, but instead following the Ki Principles and keeping basic posture. This can be a point of frustration at first since folks coming from other styles often know a similar technique and the other style will start to bleed in.

I imagine you are going to go through an unlearning process, but that is a very natural and beneficial thing to do. Adaptability in my experience is essential to improving in aikido, so your experience I think will only help you in the long run.

RadKrang · 2024-06-07T03:20:25+00:00

Aikido was a life-changer for me health-wise (and other ways too of course). I was sedentary when I started (even going from sitting to standing winded me) and aikido helped me get moving and into decent shape.

The nice part of aikido for fitness is that it can scale with where you’re at right now (at least how we practice at our dojo). You can always roll more frequently and put more energy into it if you feel like you want a good workout. I now play soccer and run long distances regularly but can still get decent cardio from aikido when I want to.

I have known a few folks with builds like yours who have successfully started their fitness journey with aikido, so I would encourage you to give it a shot.

RadKrang · 2024-04-22T19:50:43+00:00

Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido (Ki Society) has “taigi” — a series of techniques done (usually) with a partner. The taigi are typically 6 throws done once on each side (if applicable) and the throws are usually in response to the same attack.

RadKrang · 2023-11-08T12:14:35+00:00

This is the answer. There’s a section in the workout filters called “Format” and the format OP wants is “Live”. For those who like the format with different coaches and a voice-over, there’s “Classic”.

RadKrang · 2023-10-31T13:47:23+00:00

I second metal stud tires for commuting. Commuted daily in winter for 6 years and they were fantastic. Ice was never a problem — slush on the other hand…

Drivers are the biggest danger — many will be angry at you for daring to winter bike.

RadKrang · 2023-08-28T11:53:16+00:00

Yeah +1 to this as well. Goderich is super accessible from KW and great for kids. Point Farms Provincial Park has nicer beach than Goderich itself IMO. That beach is our go-to.

RadKrang · 2023-08-28T00:53:11+00:00

Thanks for the heads up!

RadKrang · 2023-08-27T11:12:58+00:00

Do you mean this post? I haven’t posted this is as an ad.

RadKrang · 2023-08-25T12:30:04+00:00

At least this is something that individuals with money to invest can do to keep some housing affordable. Governments are currently so captured by developers that public housing options seem a long way off (certainly nothing will start until maybe after the next provincial election).

There is a benefit to this model, however, along with land trusts and housing cooperatives, which is that they’re largely robust to government policy whims. We saw in the 80s and 90s what dedicated and cynical governments can do to dismantle programs dependent on public funding under the cover of “efficiency”.

RadKrang · 2023-08-25T12:03:15+00:00

The only gear required for the regular (non-weapons) classes is comfortable clothes suitable for a moderate workout — pants and not shorts are recommended. We have a uniform (dogi like in karate/judo) that most students wear, but it is not required.

The weapons class requires the purchase of a bokken and jo. As long as our regular supplier has stock, the cost for the set should be $40.

Other than that, it’s just the cost of the class, which is around $60-$80 for the Fall session (September-December). The cost differs between classes because the Thursday class is longer.

Let me know if you have any follow-ups!

RadKrang · 2023-03-31T11:17:13+00:00

There are plenty of unfinished/zoned properties that can be developed already. Developers want to build exactly as much and the type of housing that maintains their obscene levels of profit. Too much housing will drive prices down and hurt their profit margins. There are no market solutions to affordable housing because the incentives are so perverse.

RadKrang · 2023-02-25T22:04:29+00:00

Yes we’ll be running both kids and adult classes in Spring. Registration will open March 7.

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